Trainer Mick Price reverted to his pre-training days when he did the parade work with The Speed Machine at Mornington.
The Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained two-year-old became a handful when saddling and Price took on strapping duties before the running of the Mornington Sires (1000m) on Saturday.
The tactic work as The Speed Machine ($3) jumped straight to the front under Thomas Stockdale to score a half-neck win from the $2.50 favourite Luna Vega with Zynaro ($11) a further 2-½ lengths away third.
Price said The Speed Machine wears the red earmuffs in the parade before he races which are then taken from the horse’s gear at the barriers.
But Price felt the gelding was half-asleep, so he removes the head gear when the saddling procedure was finished.
“His father (Hanseatic) used to have a bit of feist about him,” Price said.
“His father used to always have two strappers on him, and I did take the red earmuffs off him while we were saddling him up, because I thought he was half asleep.
“But I found out the wrong way. He was not asleep and I had to do my own work.”
The Speed Machine is unbeaten in two outings having scored over 1000m in a four-horse field on debut at Morphettville Parks last month.
Price does not believe The Speed Machine is purely a 1000m sprinter and will eventually stretch out to 1200m.
The Speed Machine carries the colours of Kempinsky who won The Vase at Moonee Valley and finished second in the Group 1 Victoria Derby at Flemington in 2003.
“We’ve had horses together for 30 years, but we haven’t had a lot of starters over that time,” Price said.
“He buys them, I move them on, but this one, he’s a keeper.
“He a fast horse, and he’s a strong horse, and he’s very sound, an easy horse to train.”
